N3il's Blog

After nearly 2 weeks since the operation was postponed, life has got back to some sort of normality for us as a family. I have had 2 full weeks at work and Sue has managed to settle in with her new class of year 3 children.

Today (Saturday 28 September) I received a letter from Kings Hospital giving me a date of next Friday 4 October for these further investigations. I’m not sure of any details yet or how long this will take yet, but I will call the hospital on Monday to get these details.

What I do know is that I will be having a ‘carotid balloon occlusion test’ which will test to see if I need to have a stent put into one of these arteries in my neck (A stent is a small mesh tube that’s used to treat narrow or weak arteries). We will then hopefully know the next steps. I’ll keep you all informed as and when I know anything further news.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers at this time.

We’ve just had a great weekend celebrating our 22nd wedding anniversary on Saturday. Sue and myself had a lovely Turkish meal out in Orpington, whilst the kids had organised there own evenings at various locations. Sue was up with the belly dancing around the restaurant while I was ducking my head hoping the belly dancer wouldn’t try to get me up dancing. Fortunately I got away with not getting up. I have also been getting myself ready for my hospital stay with books and lots of movies loaded onto my iPad to while away my time in hospital BUT!

With 1 day to go I have just had a call this morning at 10.30am from one of the surgeons at Guys to tell me that they need to postpone my operation tomorrow and potentially postponed for 6 weeks. All this has come about after a second CT scan I had last Friday where the scan showed that there is an issue with some of the blood vessels in my neck that aren’t behaving in the way they should, and so they need more time to investigate this issue further. This issue only affects a very small percentage of the population, I am one of them! If they had gone ahead without this knowledge then I would have stood a far great possibility of having a stoke and the surgeon weren’t prepare to take this risk on me.

So although this is a shock as I am totally ready to just get on with it and I have my movies ready! I also grateful that the professionals want to get it right and that they want to be fully prepared and have every issue covered. The next step now is that at some point in the next 2 weeks I will need to go to Kings Hospital to have a stent put in this artery in my neck (A stent is a small mesh tube that’s used to treat narrow or weak arteries). After this they can then decided if they can go ahead or if they need to do further test.

We now need to undo all the plans we have made, for food for the next 2 weeks as friends have put a rota together to feed Sue and the kids for the next 2 weeks and work wise, both Sue’s work and my work have been fantastic about getting this sorted.

Thank you everyone who has been supporting us so far both practically and in your prayers and I will keep you all updating to as and when any tests and new op dates happen.

Thanks Neil

Dad and Dan!

4 days to go and I’ve have my pre op short haircut! A number one crop all around the sides and back of my head. This is because the surgeon will operating from behind my left ear and down my neck. So I’ll end up with a long scar behind my ear.

I’ve had another CT scan today at a different hospital Kings Hospital in Denmark Hill. This was a scan where they inject a substance into your arm that within a millisecond of being injected, has travelled around your whole body, as it makes your whole body go warm and it feels a bit like your blood has just shot up in temperature.

Firstly, sorry to everyone who has subscribed to my blogs and who will have received about 15 emails last night telling them about each and every message. Sorry I didn’t realised this would happen until a friend texted me this morning to tell me. I will try to limited these messages to one a day.

The sound track of my life – Part 2

5 days and counting. This sound track of my life speaks of the faith and hope that I have that ‘God can move the mountains!’

If faith can move the mountains, let the mountains move
We come with expectation, waiting here for you, I’m waiting here for you.

You’re the Lord of all creation and still you know my heart
The Author of Salvation, you’ve loved us from the start.

Old friends! 

Caught up with some old friends Neil Hawkins and Des Kane at Nandos this evening. Thanks guys, you are always an encouragement!

i123 MIBG Nuclear Medical Scanner

6 days to go and had another scan at Guys today, after being radioactive for the last 20 hours! This scanner was a i123 MIBG nuclear medical scanner, which finds any active malignant cells, this information can be used after the surgery to help the medical team to work out if I need any further treatment.

Life still feels a bit weird at the moment as I currently feel well and unaffected by the tumour, but in only 6 days this is going to temporally change my life for a while, whilst my body heals after the operation.

Still it needs to be sorted out and from my point of view the sooner the better and I can then get on with life after a short pause.